University of West Florida

The sites we visited this week

This was a fun activity filled week. On the first day we took a swim test then did water quality analyses in Ferry's Pass, Thompson's Creek, Perdido River and Alligator Creek where we learned a lot about stream ecology and how human impacts affect them.

Collecting water quality data from Ferry's Pass

The next day we went to Big Lagoon to learn about seagrass ecology and perform more water quality tests. At Big Lagoon we also learned how to use seine and dip nets to catch fish we then compared fish species and quantities. Later that day we went to Perdido River on a boat to do comparative water analyses using YSI meters, we also tested for bacteria production and sediment types. It was really interesting to see how the different instruments worked and how they collected the data. We ended the day with a shrimp boil which was a great way to mingle and meet cohort B.

Day three was my favorite. Both groups went together to Pensacola Beach, a salt marsh and Santa Rosa sound. We collected a lot of fish via the seines including a baby puffer. Here we also learned about dune ecosystems and how they're formed. We got to eat lunch at the beach and snorkel a little before heading to Ft. Picken's to learn about sea turtles. Once the sun set, we went to turtle nesting sites to measure light data to see the conditions in which the turtles laid their egg. It was a long day but we learned a lot.

Counting fish at Pensacola Beach

The baby puffer

 On Thursday we learned more about watersheds then compiled and analyzed the data collected from the previous days. We ended the night with a Blue Wahoo baseball game which was loads of fun. The week concluded with presentations of the projects we had been working on all week; my group did fish diversity. Our main focus was species richness and diversity for the sites that we visited. It was interesting to see everyone present the information and data that we had all collected and worked on during the week.

Our wonderful cohort